Gracie's Mini Mommas' To Be Page- All done foaling! Five Healthy Foals!!

[Sandy B]

A couple more pictures. We sure hope he grows in to his head

. We know mom does not have the typiest head but nevertheless we think he is just precious!

 

[AnnaC]

Oh just look at that gorgeous Superman, he's just perfect!! And that grass will be great for Lexi herself and her milk supply!

I'm so very thrilled for you and Gracie - bet she cant take her eyes off him!

 

[Becky]

Oh he is just precious! Looks like he might be homozygous for tobiano too!

I agree with your vet. As someone who seems to have had more than my fair share of dystocias here, my vet hasn't put any of the living foals on antibiotics as I recall. Ocassionally, the mares will go on systemic antibiotics, but it depends on how much trauma she has sustained. All of my dystocia mares are flushed and infused. Depending on what my vet finds at that time, some are flushed and infused more than once.

 

[Mima Acres]

Wow! That's something. SO glad you have your vet nearby! He's is so gorgeous, CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[Sandy B]

Thank you all so much! I was hoping that this baby would be homozygous since daddy is and momma might just be too. I knew we had a good chance of getting blue eyes since both mom and dad have them. With mom being 32.5" and dad 30.5" with him being 17" now, is there a formula to use to figure out how big he will mature?

Last year dystocia was much worse and my vet I used then was an hour away. As you know we lost both the mare and the foal. So when I met this new vet and then her daughter got involved in my 4-H horse group we became friends and she began doing my vet work. I am very lucky that she lives right down the street.

 

[palsminihorses]

Lovely pictures! And he really does look tiny next to his mama! Adorable pics with Gracie!

 

[Sandy B]

Wow Diane, that is so tiny!! I would never have imagined him being so small at maturity. I will remeasure his cannon bone tomorrow, i totally forgot to tonight as we had visitors that wanted to peak in on the Superman.

Superman is a "fainting foal". Well at least that is what I hope it is. Somewhere in this forum I just read about it as I have never heard about it and thank God I did because when he fainted, I knew at that moment thats what it had to be as he only does it when he is petted or cuddled. At first I noticed that when Gracie held him in her arms that he fell immediately asleep. Then this afternoon when we were petting him he went stiff legged and fell right over but quickly woke up and jumped back up. I waited awhile and purposely petted him again and he did it again and responded the same way. The later tonight I forgot all about his "fainting" and after we fed he came up to me and I started loving on him and again, legs went stiff and over he went. Jumped right up again. He does not appear to have any sleeping issues and wakes up and nurses very well. Lexi's udder is staying nice and drained. I personally think this fainting is caused by over-stimulation related to nerve endings or something? He is definitely not pre-mature as he is over-baked and mature in every way. Can anyone advise if there is something that I should do or any certain approaches I should take.

 

[chandab]

There are a couple growth charts on the LB info pages, I don't know how accurate they are, but here you go:

http://www.lilbeginnings.com/info/misc/

 

[Sandy B]

There are a couple growth charts on the LB info pages, I don't know how accurate they are, but here you go:

http://www.lilbeginn....com/info/misc/

Thank you so much!

 

[AnnaC]

Aww bless him Sandy. I'm sure he will grow out of it soon, particularly as he's doing so well in all other respects. Just be careful that when you (or Gracie) go to give him a hug with an arm round the front of him, that that arm stays down no higher than the top of his front legs. Even the smallest pressure of an arm round the underside of his neck can cause a momentary cut off of oxygen. Not explaining this very well, but I did have a friend do a visit to see one of my two day old foals several years ago. Friendly foal came up to say hello, she squatted down to give scratches and went to give a hug putting her arm naturally round the front of his neck. He moved forward into her arm and dropped to the floor in a faint! He hopped up moments later none the worse. But it caught my interest and later I tried it again, just putting the mildest of contact against his neck - he dropped again! I kept away from the front of his neck from then on and he never did it again. Not the same as a fainting foal, but interesting - I almost felt that 'something' had caused him to be 'programmed' to drop/faint at the contact with the front of his neck? Most strange!

 

[Sandy B]

We had a scary episode last night when I was watching him on camera waiting for him to get up & nurse just to help me sleep better. It seemed he had been down quite a long time (45 min to hour). I was just about to head out to barn to check him when I saw him get up and stagger, stumble & fall over. He would get back up & go tumbling & repeat. Then he would stand & faint. He then looked to almost have a seizure as he fell over and was stiff as a board. I jumped out of bed & threw sweats & shoes on & ran to barn. By the time I got there he was standing but wobbly. I went in to help him & as soon as I touched him he fainted. I picked him up and stood him up & tried to steady him & he would just faint again. So freaking out I run back to house & call my vet & told her what happened. While I was telling her, Superman got up and then acted like nothing happened. So we stayed on the phone for 30 min & he acted completely like a normal foal- nurse, pee, play, nurse, explore, nurse, play, then down for a nap. Vet said she wanted me to observe throught the night but if episodes increased or got worse then we would address it more but that it sounded like fainting foal for sure (immature nerve function) even though he is clearly an at term foal. I told her I heard that there was some success using Dexmethasone and she said if the episodes increased that she didn't have a problem trying it. Anyone else have suggestion?

I have seen him get up now several times & not have any more episodes.

 

[AnnaC]

Oh Sandy, that must have been so frightening for you. So glad you were able to talk to your lovely vet right away. Hopefully this will just be a minor problem with him and he will improve and grow out of it as he gets a bit older.

Do please keep us updated. Sending ((((HUGS)))) and will be saying prayers for little Superman.

 

[Eagle]

Sandy I am so sorry you had such a fright. I don't have any personal experience in the matter to help but I know they do grow out of "fainting Foal" pretty quickly. I am sending prayers for Superman and hugs for you and Gracie.

 

[Sandy B]

Well so far so good after that horrible episode last night. I have personally watched him on camera get up and down a few times with no problems. He is doing everything else "text-book" in my opinion. I did go out at about 4am when he was sleeping to make sure I could watch with my own eyes and not on camera, him get up. He stayed laying down and as my vet recommended I firmly touched him and woke him up as his mom would do and not a soft touch like we humans like to do. The firm touch worked and he jumped right up, stretched and went to nursing. I do have to say, it was so scary watching him have that one episode, especially when he fell over and went all stiff for a minute or two.

I will get more pictures today of the little man as well as take some of Fancy who is 349 days today. Fancy was very, very quiet last night. She did not trigger the alarm one time by laying flat out, but no real changes in her udder.

 

[griggsmel]

Wow, such a scary time for you. I hope he gets better quickly and you have the most uneventful births from here on out!! It's so educating reading about all of the things everyone goes through, so I really appreciate you taking the time to write it all out. I forget, how many more are you expecting besides the one overdue now, and when are they due?

 

[kay56649]

What a beautiful little baby!!!!! He is so cute and tiny!! My little mini foal is 24 inches at 2 weeks with an 8 1/2 inch cannon bone!! Her mom is 35 inches and her dad is 29 inches

 

[kay56649]

My little mini foal fainted the first two days of being born! It was so scary the first time, because I thought I had killed her! She just crumbled into a little pile in front of my feet! I was just petting her when she fainted!! She hasn't done it since, so she grew out of it pretty fast! Most of them do!

 

[Sandy B]

Wow, such a scary time for you. I hope he gets better quickly and you have the most uneventful births from here on out!! It's so educating reading about all of the things everyone goes through, so I really appreciate you taking the time to write it all out. I forget, how many more are you expecting besides the one overdue now, and when are they due?

We have three more due besides the mare that is 10 days over due. The next one is due May 18th, then May 24th and June 1 using 340 big horse due dates. These three mares are shaping up very well and look more ready than the one that is 10 days over. I hope the rest are uneventful

My little mini foal fainted the first two days of being born! It was so scary the first time, because I thought I had killed her! She just crumbled into a little pile in front of my feet! I was just petting her when she fainted!! She hasn't done it since, so she grew out of it pretty fast! Most of them do!

Well since I knew what is was from reading on the form about it, i actually laughed the first time it happened. But when last nights episode was so bad and he actually seizured it scared the crapola out of me!!

 

[Sandy B]

Superman already seems to be doing so much better today

!!! We have even touched him and scratched him now and he has not fainted!! He and Lexi have been turned out for about 2 hours now. I took so many pictures that it is ridiculous! Plus I remeasured him not that he is unfolded even more. Hi cannon bone no matter how many times I measured it from coronet bacd to mid knee comes out 5.5" and remeasuring him with the mini horse measure stick, he is 17.5" tall. So yes, he is a tiny guy!

Here are a couple pictures!

 

[AnnaC]

Sandy, when you have time, could we have some updated pics of Fancy please!